Ethereum's Glamsterdam upgrade activated on the Sepolia testnet on October 6, 2026, at 13:53:36 UTC (epoch 353,024), bringing enshrined proposer-builder separation and block-level access lists to the network. With Sepolia now stress-testing a 200M gas limit ahead of an expected Q4 2026 mainnet launch, here is everything the upgrade changes — and what just got dropped from it.
Key Takeaways
- Glamsterdam activated on the Sepolia testnet on Oct 6, 2026 (13:53:36 UTC, epoch 353,024).
- Headline changes: enshrined proposer-builder separation (EIP-7732), block-level access lists (EIP-7928), and gas repricings.
- Sepolia is stress-testing a 200M gas limit (up from about 60M) before the mainnet launch expected in Q4 2026.
- EIP-8363 (the staking-reward burn) was withdrawn from fork consideration on Oct 1 — it is not a live change. Co-author Jerome de Tychey argues the fork is the wrong venue; discussion moves to an EthCC roundtable, a Devcon issuance forum in November, and workshops in January–March 2027.
- ETH traded $2,487–2,535 on Oct 8–10 (below $2,500, down 6.7% on the week, about 49% below the $4,946 all-time high); U.S. spot ETH ETFs saw about $542.2M in net weekly outflows for the week ended Oct 9 — the largest since January — on a nine-session redemption streak, with BlackRock's ETHA accounting for about $477M.
- The staking exit queue peaked at roughly 786,000 ETH (about a 14-day wait) on Oct 5 before shortening; staking now holds about 43.7M ETH (up more than 7M in 2026) while the validator count fell from about 975,000 to about 863,000 after Pectra consolidation.
Glamsterdam Lands on Sepolia
The activation went through on October 6, 2026, at exactly 13:53:36 UTC — epoch 353,024 on Sepolia, Ethereum's primary public testnet. Testnet activations are the dress rehearsal for mainnet: they let client teams, stakers, and infrastructure providers shake out bugs under real network conditions before the change touches the chain that secures hundreds of billions of dollars.
The stress test: 200M gas
The headline number from Sepolia is the gas limit being stress-tested: 200 million, up from roughly 60 million. That is more than a 3x increase in the network's throughput ceiling, and it is the kind of change that can only be validated under sustained load — exactly what Sepolia is for. If the testnet holds, mainnet is expected to follow in Q4 2026.
What's Inside the Upgrade
EIP-7732: enshrined proposer-builder separation
The centerpiece of Glamsterdam is EIP-7732, which brings proposer-builder separation (PBS) into the protocol itself. Today, block building happens through out-of-protocol relays and middlemen; enshrining it in the protocol is meant to make block production more decentralized and harder to censor.
EIP-7928: block-level access lists
EIP-7928 introduces block-level access lists, which let blocks declare up front which state they will touch. The payoff is efficiency: validators can parallelize execution and clients can process blocks faster — groundwork that matters as gas limits climb.
Gas repricings
Alongside the structural changes, Glamsterdam reprices several gas costs to reflect real-world resource usage. Repricing is routine in Ethereum upgrades, but it directly affects how much transactions cost — something every user and dapp developer will feel.
The Staking-Reward Burn Is Off the Table — For Now
Not everything made the cut. On October 1, EIP-8363 — the proposal to burn a portion of staking rewards — was withdrawn from fork consideration. It is not a live change and will not ship with Glamsterdam.
Co-author Jerome de Tychey argued that the hard fork is the wrong venue for such a consequential monetary-policy change. Instead, the conversation is moving to dedicated forums: an EthCC roundtable, an issuance forum at Devcon in November, and workshops running January through March 2027. For stakers, the takeaway is simple: rewards are untouched by this upgrade, and any change to issuance will be debated in public first.
ETH Price, ETF Outflows, and the Staking Queue
The upgrade news landed in a soft market. ETH traded between $2,487 and $2,535 on October 8–10, holding below $2,500, down 6.7% on the week and about 49% below its $4,946 all-time high.
U.S. spot ETH ETFs had their worst week since January: about $542.2 million in net outflows for the week ended October 9, extending a nine-session redemption streak, with BlackRock's ETHA accounting for about $477 million of the bleeding.
On the staking side, the exit queue peaked at roughly 786,000 ETH — about a 14-day wait — on October 5 before shortening. Total staked ETH stands at about 43.7 million, up more than 7 million in 2026, even as the validator count dropped from about 975,000 to about 863,000 — a sign that larger operators are consolidating validators after the Pectra upgrade rather than leaving the network.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Glamsterdam upgrade?
Glamsterdam is Ethereum's next major hard fork. It activated on the Sepolia testnet on October 6, 2026, and is expected on mainnet in Q4 2026. Its headline features are enshrined proposer-builder separation (EIP-7732), block-level access lists (EIP-7928), and gas repricings.
When will Glamsterdam go live on mainnet?
Mainnet is expected in Q4 2026. Sepolia is currently stress-testing a 200M gas limit (up from about 60M) ahead of the launch.
Was the Ethereum staking-reward burn cancelled?
EIP-8363, the staking-reward burn proposal, was withdrawn from fork consideration on October 1 — it is not a live change and will not ship with Glamsterdam. Co-author Jerome de Tychey says the fork is the wrong venue; discussion continues at an EthCC roundtable, a Devcon issuance forum in November, and workshops in January–March 2027.
Why is ETH trading below $2,500?
ETH traded $2,487–2,535 on Oct 8–10, down 6.7% on the week and about 49% below its $4,946 all-time high. U.S. spot ETH ETFs saw about $542.2M in net weekly outflows for the week ended Oct 9 — the largest since January — on a nine-session redemption streak, with BlackRock's ETHA at about $477M.
